Sunday, December 6, 2015

Tokyo Grand Slam 2015 - DAY 3

JUDO CONCLUDES IN STYLE IN TOKYO

The third day of competition on the occasion of the
2015 Tokyo Grand Slam concluded a busy sports season. Four more
Japanese athletes stepped on top of the podium, while the American Kayla
HARRISON confirmed that she is the World number one in her weight
category. The 2016 World Judo Tour will restart at the end of January
with the opening event to be held in Havana Cuba. Until then, the
athletes from the five continents will have a bit of rest and then go
back on the tatami to prepare what will be the most important year of
their career as all eyes will be focused on Rio de Janeiro, where the
next Olympic Games will be held next summer.

On the occasion of this last day of competition at the
2015 Tokyo Grand Slam, the IJF President, Mr. Marius Vizer had a long
talk with the representatives of the media. This gave him the
opportunity to speak about today’s and future development of judo. Mr.
Vizer, who met with Mr. Hiroshi Hase, Minister of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology, two days ago said: “I have expressed my
gratitude, honour and happiness to come back to the home of judo, and my
hope to see the World Championships to be held in Japan in 2019, just
before the 2020 Olympic Games. With the Minister we talked more
generally about the development of judo and how our sport can contribute
to the development of the international society.“

From left to right: Mr.
Marius Vizer, IJF President, Mr. Tsunekazu TAKEDA, President of the
National Olympic Committee and Gabriela Szabau, Olympic and World
Champion in Athletics during the final block of the last day of
competition in Tokyo.

When being asked about the possibility to have the team
event at the Olympic Games, the IJF President answered: “I am convinced
that the team event at the Olympic Games can only increase the value of
our sport and be beneficial for everyone. We are ready with the project
and we will as soon as possible make the proposition to the IOC. I hope
that this will become a reality. We have several options with separated
teams, men and women, or mixed teams.“

As this was one of the subjects of Discussion with
Minister Hase, Mr. Vizer also added some comments about the possibility
to have the World Championships coming back to Japan in 2019: “The next
World Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary, in 2017. For 2018
and 2019, the bidding process is still open and we have very good
candidates with France, USA, Russia, Azerbaijan, Morocco and other
places as well. Of course, Japan is also a candidate for the
organisation in 2019, which would be very good because we could combine
the World Championships and the test event for the 2020 Games. This is
very important for the athletes, the coaches, the referees and the
organisers. The decision will be taken at the Executive Committee
meeting that will be held just prior to the Rio Games.“

The the IJF President was asked about the judo rules.
Concerning the sport and refereeing rules, his answer was: “After the
Rio Games, we have already planned to draw the conclusions of the last
four years of activity. Based on that experience, the technical and
refereeing rules will be dissected and evaluated. The perfect system
does not exist and we are going to correct what did not work correctly.
What is sure is that we will do our best for the development and
transparency of our sport and for the benefit of the athletes.“

Talking about the development of judo throughout the
globe, Mr. Vizer explained: “In the last Olympic cycle, judo has been
developing a lot throughout the planet, in all five continents. New
countries with very good judoka appeared on the international scene.
Thanks to the IJF development strategy, we have been helping a lot of
nations. But we have also developed strong programs such as JUDO FOR
CHILDREN and JUDO FOR PEACE, which are very useful to promote our
values. Our objective after Rio is to develop a worldwide JUDO FOR ALL
program. We don’t want to only focus on the elite of our sport but we
want to be present in the society as well. We have to deliver our best
to transfer the judo values to the society, because at the end our
values are more important than a title. Our mission is not only to
generate champion, but rather champions for the society.“

At the end of his meeting with the media, Mr. Vizer
said: “I would like to thank all of the media. You are important
partners. My special appreciation goes today to the Japanese media who
are always very fair, and whose values are based on honour and dignity.
Media are one of the most important mechanisms in our world and I
consider them as being one of the real guide of the society. It is
important to promote the truth because the courage to say the truth is
one of the highest values to be taught to our children.“

A Judo Legend Retires

Just before the final block and in the presence of Mr.
Jean-Luc ROUGE, IJF General Secretary, and the whole Cuban delegation
present in Tokyo, Mr. Marius Vizer presented the legendary Ronaldo
Veitia Valdivie, with the IJF Plaquette, and the IJF gold card for his
entire career and achievements. Ronaldo, head coach of the Cuban
National team participated in his last international competition today
as a coach. Born in Havana Cuba in 1948, 8th dan in judo, Ronaldo Veitia
graduated in sports science and has been the head coach of the female
national team since 1986. Under his leadership, Cuba obtained five gold,
nine silver and 10 bronze Olympic medals and a total of 57 world medals
in the senior category. Together with the cadet and junior categories,
it is an impressive total of 308 international medals, which were won by
Mr. Ronaldo Veitia Valdivia’s athletes of 30 years of activity.

The famous coach declared: “I am happy for all the
years that I have spent in the service of judo and of my country, even
if today I’m a bit sad because this is the end of a fantastic adventure.
I will now concentrate on my family and especially on my grandaughter.
For me all those years were simply extraordinary. I gave everything to
my team and to my country and my best souvenirs will for sure remain all
the medals won by my athletes. Now I will take the time to relax, to
enjoy life and of course I will continue to watch judo, but from the
stands.“

Please use #JudoTokyo2015 as often as possible in all your communications

WOMEN

-78kg: HARRISON Ends 2015 in Style

Kayla HARRISON, former world champion and current
Olympic champion was the top seeded athlete of the category. After a
long rehabilitation due to a knee operation two years ago, the American
has been back on the world judo tour tatami for several months and she
is back on the top of the world ranking list. Nevertheless, her way back
was not a peaceful one and she had to redouble her efforts to dominate
the world again. In the final she was opposed to a two time winner of
Grand Slams this season (Tyumen and Baku). For almost three minutes, the
two athletes neutralised themselves, but the Dutch was penalised with a
shido for stepping out of the tatami. Everything was still possible but
STEENHUIS had to take some risks, which benefited HARRISON who scored a
yuko on o-uchi-gari.

The London Olympic silver medallist, Gemma GIBBONS
(GBR), again found the way of the final block of a major event as she
was opposed to SATO Ruika (JPN) for a place on the podium. The Japanese
scored the first yuko with a tai-otoshi, but GIBBONS reduced the score
and finally took the lead with two counterattacks for yuko and then for
waza-ari. With the victory, the British wins her fifth Grand Slam medal.

The second bronze medal fight was a remake of the final
of the last world championships as world silver medallist, Anamari
VELENSEK (SLO) and current world champion UMEKI Mami (JPN) faced for the
Grand Slam honours. After several penalties were distributed on both
sides, VELENSEK was about to take the control of the fight, with a
counterattack, which was first scored with a yuko, before it was
downgraded to no score. But then UMEKI received a third shido, which
definitely offered the victory to the Slovenian.

+78kg: Gold for INAMORI. Goodbye Mr. Ronaldo

Beyond the clear victory of INAMORI Nami (JPN), who
defeated the current Olympic champion Idalys ORTIZ (CUB) by ippon with
an immobilisation, the history books will remember that this final was
the last one for Mr. Ronaldo Veitia as a coach of the Cuban team. Thus
if Idalys ORTIZ couldn’t offer that last victory to the man who brought
her to the top of the Olympics, she gave a long hug to her coach while
stepping off the tatami.

TOMITA Wakaba (JPN) and Iryna KINDZERSKA (UKR) faced
off for a place on the podium. Until the last minute nothing was written
on the scoreboard as both athletes seemed incable of finding the
smallest opportunity to score but nothing could stop KINDZERSKA when she
launched a powerful left-handed o-soto-gari for ippon.

The second bronze medal fight saw the victory of the
winner of the 2015 Paris Grand Slam, Emilie ANDEOL (FRA) due to an
injury of her teammate Marine ERB (FRA), earlier during the day.

MEN

-90kg: Third Grand Slam Gold this Year for BAKER

Only ranked sixth in the world and seeded in the fifth
position, BAKER Mashu (JPN) nevertheless qualified for the final of the
category, were he was opposed to the 2013 world champion, the Cuban
Asley GONZALEZ, who is coming back to his top form at the end of this
season, giving him good hopes for the Rio Olympic Games. Escaping from
the grip of his opponent, GONZALES was penalised with a first shido
after less than two minutes. Just before the last minute, it was the
turn of BAKER to be penalided for a false attack with a shido. But when
the Cuban was penalised again, BAKER took a small advantage that he
could maintain until the final gong. This medal represents the third
gold medal at a Grand Slam this season after Baku and Tyumen and his
fourth Grand Slam gold medal in total (Tokyo 2013).

The first bronze medal contest opposed the 2015 Asian
Championship silver medallist, NISHIYAMA Daiki (JPN) and the world
number three Noel VAN T END (NED), second at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam a
few weeks ago. NISHIYAMA was penalised with a first shido for false
attack to which he responded with a o-uchi-gari for waza-ari. 40 seconds
before the end of the fight, the Japanese concluded with an
immobilisation for waza-ari-awasete-ippon, winning his seventh medal on
the occasion of a Grand Slam.

Kirill VOPROSOV (RUS) and the current world champion
GWAK Dong Han (KOR) were opposed in the second bronze medal contest of
the men’s -90kg. Both athletes were penalised with a first shido for
blocking each other and then GWAK launched the now famous trademark
Korean drop seoi-nage for a clear ippon.

-100kg: HAGA Confirms Supremacy in Tokyo

The final of the men’s -100kg the current world
champion HAGA Ryunosuke (JPN) and CHO Guham (KOR), the defending Tokyo
Grand Slam gold medalist from last year. At the end of the five minutes,
nothing else than penalties were written on the scoreboard, three for
CHO and only two for HAGA, giving the first grand slam gold medal to
HAGA, who confirms his supremacy of the category since the world
championships.

The first bronze medal fight was a match of strong men
as Beka GVINIASHVILI (GEO) faced Cyrille MARET (FRA). After half of the
fight, MARET was already penalized two times, looking incapable of
changing rhythm, when he finally scored a first yuko with his favorite
o-soto-gari turned into a arai-makikomi. Coming from the -90kg weight
category, GVINIASHVILI had a tough day fighting in the upper category
and the Georgian looked really tired at the end, and finally MARET
applied an arm-lock for ippon.

The second bronze medal fight concluded in the favor of
Elmar GASIMOV (AZE) against Maxim RAKOV (KAZ), the only one shido
difference being enough to attribute the bronze medal.

+100kg: Golden HARASAWA Concludes the Japanese Domination

The last final of the day, of the Grand Slam, and of
the last event of 2015 opposed the top seeded judoka and world silver
edallist, SHICHINOHE Ryu (JPN) and HARASAWA Hisayoshi (JPN), winner of
the last Paris Grand Slam in October. After 35 seconds, both athletes
were penalised for passivity. At the end of the five minutes, both
SHICHINOHE and HARASAWA, who are dreaming to maybe one day dethrone the
king Teddy Riner, were penalised with three shido each. That meant
golden score was required. After a sequence of several combined attacks
from HARASAWA, SHICHINOHE was finally penalised a last time offering the
victory to HARASAWA.

The first bronze medal fight of the last category of
the day opposed Levani MATIASHVILI (GEO) and the last man who defeated
Teddy Riner, KAMIKAWA Daiki (JPN) but that was back in 2010. Since then,
KAMIKAWA never seemed in the position to repeat his performance and the
French giant has been invincible as was the case in China and in Korea,
during the last two IJF events. After five minutes where KAMIKAWA
proved to be more active than his opponent, he finally won the medal
with a single shido difference.

The second bronze medal contest saw Soslan BOSTANOV
(RUS) and Stanislav BONDARENKO (UKR) fighting to join SHICHINOHE and
HARASAWA on the podium. Only 33 seconds were necessary for BONDARENKO to
send BOSTANOV to the tatami of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium with a
huge ko-soto-gari for ippon.